Most people consume news from outlets that are biased
But often they misunderstand or underestimate media bias
Can we correct these misperceptions and what are the downstream effects?
Question: Does highlighting media reporting patterns…
…lead to learning about bias, switching to less biased media, and changes in political attitudes?
Media literacy: Activate Type 2 processing via innoculation or prebunking interventions to improve ability to discern biased or false information
Attentiveness prompts: Activate Type 2 processing by asking citizens about information they consume (e.g. whether it is accurate)
Ask citizens to analyze the topics and sentiment of news headlines by state and independent media
…to test whether…
Paying attention to what media outlet covers make citizens:
Learn about media reporting patterns (positive domestic and negative foreign)
Change perceptions media outlet’s bias (state is more biased)
Adjust media consumption (away from state media)
Change political attitudes (more critical of government / policies)
Russia: an autocratic regime with state control of media environment
\(\Rightarrow\) Harder to shift media beliefs and consumption
Study:
Watch 4 to 6 short news headline segments per wave from one of three TV channels:
\(\Rightarrow\) In our sample 67% watch Rossiya-1; 3% (!) watch RTVI
After each video, six questions asking to count frequency of discussion of:
Lower support for the government and stronger concerns about Ukraine
No clear differences between treatment groups
Interpretation: Attention to news can lead to interest in new (more balanced) media and to change in political attitudes when it aligns with prior dispositions; otherwise, little change occurs
| Variable | Obs | Mean | SD | Min | p25 | p50 | p75 | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socio-economic characteristics | ||||||||
| Age | 1176 | 44.81 | 12.06 | 19 | 36.00 | 45.00 | 54.00 | 80.00 |
| Female | 1175 | 0.48 | 0.50 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Education | 1176 | 2.55 | 0.68 | 0 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Income level (categorical) | 1176 | 2.82 | 0.88 | 0 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 5.00 |
| Employed permanently | 1176 | 0.74 | 0.44 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Use of advanced Internet technologies | ||||||||
| VPN | 1050 | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Total (out of 8) | 1176 | 3.22 | 2.13 | 0 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 5.00 | 8.00 |
| Overall news consumption | ||||||||
| Frequency (categorical) | 1176 | 2.74 | 0.63 | 0 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| From TV | 1142 | 0.80 | 0.40 | 0 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| From online media | 1142 | 0.73 | 0.44 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Recently consumed news | ||||||||
| From Rossiya-1 | 1175 | 0.68 | 0.47 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| From RTVI | 1175 | 0.04 | 0.19 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 |
| Intensity of state media use | 1173 | 0.24 | 0.18 | 0 | 0.12 | 0.19 | 0.31 | 0.88 |
| Intensity of indep. media use | 1173 | 0.07 | 0.15 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.11 | 1.00 |
| Attitudes | ||||||||
| Media in Russia unbiased | 1176 | 0.52 | 0.28 | 0 | 0.33 | 0.67 | 0.67 | 1.00 |
| Strength of preference for unbiased news | 1176 | 0.36 | 0.23 | 0 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.50 | 0.75 |
| President approval | 1173 | 0.60 | 0.49 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Government focuses too much on | ||||||||
| Law and order | 1176 | 0.09 | 0.29 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 |
| Foreign affairs | 1176 | 0.12 | 0.33 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 |
No pure control? No systematic evidence of Placebo (Kultura) group changes over time
Political news push respondents away? No differences in patterns of attrition across treatment groups
Less attention to political news? High and similar rates of correct answers about the topic and channel across groups
Experimenter demand? No differences across treatment groups in respondents’ assessments of study goals
Shirikov, Syunyaev · Propaganda Bubble